1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to animal traps and, more particularly, to a powered trigger system for cage-type animal traps.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cage trapping is old and well-know. It involves coaxing, baiting, or enticing an animal to enter a cage, allowing the animal to become trapped when a trigger mechanism is actuated by the animal while inside the cage by closing the cage doors and locking the animal in. Usually, cages are shaped like a square or rectangular box. Most cage traps have one door, and some varieties of cage traps may have two doors located on opposing ends of the cage.
Trigger mechanisms are used to close trap doors and cage the animal. Such trigger mechanisms have been used to actuate the closing of cage doors throughout history. A trigger could be as simple as moving a stick with a string where the stick is holding the box up. Most basic trigger systems move a latch or slide from a door, allowing the door to close when the animal steps on a pan or metal pad. The standard CONIBEAR trap mechanism has been around for many years and has a trigger system useful for cage traps.
As the years have progressed, the technology behind trigger systems has evolved slowly, and a need exists for improvement of the traditional trigger systems. Existing trigger mechanisms experience effectiveness problems when there is substantial door pressure on a cage trap. In essence, the pan requires too much force to actuate the trigger because of the relationship between the force on the pan and the pressure on the trap door. Therefore, a need exists for an improved trigger mechanism in which substantial pressure on the door of the cage trap does not decrease the effectiveness of the trigger mechanism.